The West London Line

[acg5324]

I’ve just sent the checked proofs for the latest book back to Amberley Publishing. The West London Line

It’s due out this October and covers Clapham to Willesden and connected routes. It mainly concentrated on the 1970-1990s but does have many images from the 1950s and 60s.

[C126]

Hurrah!  I bought your 'Intercity cross-country rail services' last week - useful carriage formations.  Thanks again for publishing all these photographs and getting them to a wider audience.  Excellent work.

[acg5324]

9 minutes ago, C126 said:

Hurrah!  I bought your 'Intercity cross-country rail services' last week - useful carriage formations.  Thanks again for publishing all these photographs and getting them to a wider audience.  Excellent work.

Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it. 

[acg5324]

Should be available from the middle of October……….

[Not Jeremy]

A great subject for a book and looking good from what you have shown, I very much look forward to seeing it!

 

Simon

[The Stationmaster]

The WLL and WLE are fascinating pieces of railway although nowadays but a shadow of their past selves in infrastructure terms and complexity of connecting routes.   For that reason it would be interesting to know to what extent the book includes photos of what remained of some of the past important traffic  locations such as the large yard at Chelsea Basin, Viaduct Junction, and the milk depot at Wood Lane.  I know that Atkinson's 1984 book covers some of this but he missed the freight locations.

 

On a personal, particularly selfish, note coming more up to date it would also be interesting to know if it includes pics of Eurostar trains, the alterations at Kensington itself for Eurostar, and (Eurostar contracted)  HST services which used the route for a short while in the '90s.

Edited September 24, 2022 by The Stationmaster

[Oldddudders]

The lower, B&W, cover pic looks like what I would still want to call the Down Ludgate Line, with lunar lights for the route to Latchmere Junction? If I bought the book I might find out!

[NIK]

Hi,

 

The club layout I help with - Beggarwood Lane, has a spur leading to the West London line so I look forward to buying and reading the book.

 

Regards

 

Nik

Edited September 24, 2022 by NIK

[acg5324]

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The WLL and WLE are fascinating pieces of railway although nowadays but a shadow of their past selves in infrastructure terms and complexity of connecting routes.   For that reason it would be interesting to know to what extent the book includes photos of what remained of some of the past important traffic  locations such as the large yard at Chelsea Basin, Viaduct Junction, and the milk depot at Wood Lane.  I know that Atkinson's 1984 book covers some of this but he missed the freight locations.

 

On a personal, particularly selfish, note coming more up to date it would also be interesting to know if it includes pics of Eurostar trains, the alterations at Kensington itself for Eurostar, and (Eurostar contracted)  HST services which used the route for a short while in the '90s.

Eurostar yes…but only a couple…..HST no. The alterations for Eurostar at Olympia mainly amounted to fencing off what is now the carpark in the Motorail shed. Most pictures are from the 1970s and 80s with some from the 50s,60s and 90s…..it a Voyager free zone. Quite a lot of freight pictures and some trackside views, I don’t have a copy to hand as I’m currently in Manchester but I think there’s at least an image of Chelsea Basin. 

[C126]

For those with an interest in the W.L.L., etc., may I commend 'London's railways from the air', Aerofilms, Hersham : Ian Allan, 2006.  9780711031449.  It has several oblique photographs of the route, which I have found most useful.  Titles from the Contents thus:

 

Addison Road (x2), Chelsea Basin, Earls Court, Kensington High Street, White City, Willesden Jn.

 

Indeed, I would say most of the photographs are of interest to anyone wishing to see the extent of the London railway infrastructure provided by our predecessors.

Edited September 25, 2022 by C126
Typo.

[The Stationmaster]

15 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Eurostar yes…but only a couple…..HST no. The alterations for Eurostar at Olympia mainly amounted to fencing off what is now the carpark in the Motorail shed. Most pictures are from the 1970s and 80s with some from the 50s,60s and 90s…..it a Voyager free zone. Quite a lot of freight pictures and some trackside views, I don’t have a copy to hand as I’m currently in Manchester but I think there’s at least an image of Chelsea Basin. 

Thanks for that - I'll keep an eye out for a copy.  As you realised my interest in the line is really for the earlier periods - up until about the time it was transferred away from the WR to the LMR in the second half of the 1960s.

 

There were some other, minor, alterations at Kensington for the overnight trains but none were particularly obvious (and in any case I renered them redundant sometime before the project was cancelled by moving the portion shunting work to Waterloo)

[RJS1977]

17 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Eurostar yes…but only a couple…..HST no. The alterations for Eurostar at Olympia mainly amounted to fencing off what is now the carpark in the Motorail shed. Most pictures are from the 1970s and 80s with some from the 50s,60s and 90s…..it a Voyager free zone. 

 

Which reminds me that D9000 Royal Scots Grey worked through KO on summer Saturdays in the late 90s when on loan to Virgin for Birmingham-Ramsgate services.

[acg5324]

On 25/09/2022 at 13:05, RJS1977 said:

 

Which reminds me that D9000 Royal Scots Grey worked through KO on summer Saturdays in the late 90s when on loan to Virgin for Birmingham-Ramsgate services.

Did the trip KPA to RAM and back myself and is included.

[acg5324]

The book is out now.

[C126]

Sorry not to have posted sooner - my partner collected my copy on publication day - but thanks for this long-awaited title.  The inclusion of a few pictures of 'dereliction and abandoned sidings' (e.g., Pig Hill sidings, p.12, Chelsea Basin, p.21, Earl's Court gantry, p.25) helps remind me of my first ride along this route in the early '80's with my late father, and its haunting me ever since.

 

What will you do with yourself now...?  😀

[acg5324]

5 hours ago, C126 said:

Sorry not to have posted sooner - my partner collected my copy on publication day - but thanks for this long-awaited title.  The inclusion of a few pictures of 'dereliction and abandoned sidings' (e.g., Pig Hill sidings, p.12, Chelsea Basin, p.21, Earl's Court gantry, p.25) helps remind me of my first ride along this route in the early '80's with my late father, and its haunting me ever since.

 

What will you do with yourself now...?  😀

Thank you for the comments……….I might get Kensington Olympia finished in time for it’s first outing next May!

[Trog]

I remember being told by an older colleague that you could see where the buffer stops at Warwick Road yard had been converted from Broad to Standard Gauge. Also the run off from the catch point on the incline on the north side of the Cremorne Bridge was still laid in GWR bridge rail in the 1980's.  

[The Stationmaster]

17 hours ago, Trog said:

I remember being told by an older colleague that you could see where the buffer stops at Warwick Road yard had been converted from Broad to Standard Gauge. Also the run off from the catch point on the incline on the north side of the Cremorne Bridge was still laid in GWR bridge rail in the 1980's.  

Quite a survival.  I don't know about individual sidings but that part of the WLL was built as Mixed Gauge and converted to Narrow Gauge (aka standard gauge) in November 1875.  Run offs from catch points seem to have used bridge rail in quite a few places if the were quite long.

[acg5324]

A complementary review in Railways Illustrated.

https://www.pressreader.com/similar/282548727337006